Tag Archives: Bored in the USA

"Gabriel! Your "Griller" CD is coming your way, baby! SQWARK! Does anybody else see that pink bunny up there, or have I just been drinking too much lately?" - Zombie Stanley by Art Tedeschi

If you’re reading this, you’re probably wondering if you won a contest or something. I won’t keep you waiting, so let’s get right down to it.

Thanks to everyone who entered! I know that the questions were a bit frustrating, but hey, welcome to my world!

Winners: Gabriel Bernard and Marisa Graham!

Only one person correctly answered all twelve questions and he was also the first person to send his answers in. Literally… The first person. It probably isn’t fair that he won since he runs his own Frustrators fan website and knew all of the answers. Congratulations, Gabriel Bernard! You win a CD that I am pretty sure you already own!

The second place winner is Marisa Graham. Marisa took the photograph that appears on the back album cover and insert to the Frustrators’ 2000 EP, Bored in the USA, taken at the band’s second-ever live performance, at 924 Gilman. It’s probably not fair that she won, either, but Marisa was the first person to answer eleven of the questions correctly as well as the second person to enter the contest.

Marisa’s only incorrect answer was to Question #11: “What is the name of the upcoming album by Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits that lead singer Jason Chandler designed the album cover for?” Marisa answered F, which was released by Bobby Joe Ebola last year on October 12, 2010, on Silver Sprocket Records. The album that Chandler (lead singer of the Frustrators and graphic artist) designed the cover, CD, and booklet art for, Meal Deal with the Devil! is Bobby Joe’s upcoming album and book release due in mid-2011. (See below for more!) Sorry about that, Marisa! But, on a bright note, you won what you wanted… the Frustrators bag. Congratulations!

Prize #2: Frustrators Felt BackPack Bag

A shout out goes to Crystal S. who was the only other person to answer eleven of the questions correctly, but unfortunately, I have nothing else to give away but my sincere thanks for taking the time to enter the contest! Unfortunately, your answer to “Did the Frustrators play their first ever live gig at 924 Gilman?” was incorrect. See below for the answer!

Gabriel and Marisa, send me your mailing addresses at greendaymind@gmail.com and I’ll send your items out as soon as possible. Or just wait until I email you, one or the other!

Dang, that was frustrating! What is this? School?

And here’s the answers. I have to say, it was great fun looking this stuff up! But then again, I’m a nerd…

1. The Frustrators have four songs/EPs/Albums on the Adeline Records label. What are the four Adeline numbers of these recordings?

Griller - AR 046

Might as Well... Can't Dance - "Trout" - AR 008

Achtung Jackass - AR 020

Bored in the USA - AR 005

The Frustrators have four songs/EPs/Albums on the Adeline Records label. Each record released by Adeline is numbered in the Adeline logo by the order of release. The numbers for the Frustrators releases are: Griller AR 046, Achtung Jackass AR 020, Bored in the USA, AR 005, and Song #6, “Trout,” appeared on a Adeline showcase album entitled Might as Well… Can’t Dance, AR 008.

2. The band had two potential names before settling on “The Frustrators.” Name one of the potential names.

It’s funny about the name. At first we wanted to call ourselves “the Ropers.” It is such a great name. It brings to mind all kinds of good things, like cowboys and Three’s Company (that show with Suzanne Sommers, the landlords were named the Ropers). It was cheesy. We liked it. But we found out there was a band signed to Velocity Girl’s label in DC already named “the Ropers.” Ooh, we were pissed. So then we came up with “the Regal Beagles,” which was the bar in Three’s Company. And we had them put that name on the flyers for Backyard Believers [the venue of the band’s first show], and then we found out there was a ska band in LA with that name! So now we were frustrated. And that is where the name came from.

The answers, the Ropers and the Regal Beagles are from a television show that I watched a lot back in the day, Three’s Company. In fact, I think I got most of my life’s philosophy from this show, which is really, really weird. The show’s plot entailed three roommates, Janet Wood, Chrissy Snow and Jack Tripper, two women (one bombshell blond, Suzanne Sommers and one brunette everywoman, Joyce DeWitt) and one man (John Ritter, one of the funniest guys on the planet, RIP). The three mixed-gender roommates lived together because of the cheap California rent and hung out at the local bar called the Regal Beagle. The show ran from 1977 to 1984, a time when men and women who weren’t married or related were beginning to openly share homes as roommates. If you weren’t married or related, you were living in sin, even if everyone had their own bedrooms! Their landlords were Mr. and Mrs. Roper. Mr. Roper (classic comic genius Norman Fell) was opposed to a mixed-gender living arrangement if the man was straight, so Jack had to constantly pretend that he was gay in order to satisfy Mr. Roper’s rental requirement. Mrs. Roper (the wonderfully wry Audra Lindley, seldom without a drink in her hand) loved her dopey, but cheap husband and liked the tenants, and she knew that Jack was straight. Jack also had the heavy hots for busty and blonde Chrissy. Believe me, hilarity ensued. It was a show full of classic comedic pratfalls, subterfuge, innuendo, double entendres, and boobs. Ah, the 70s.

All in all, I’m glad that the potential names, the Ropers and the Regal Beagles, were out of commission because The Frustrators is the perfect name for the band, and I totally get where their sense of humor comes from. Oh and yea, cowboys, too.

3. Name the Frustrator who sculpted the zombie version of Stanley the Chicken which appears on: the cover of the Griller 7″ vinyl, inside the CD fold-out, and on the t-shirt worn by Mike during the tour? (See the t-shirt on Mike)

Art Tedeschi, drummer of The Frustrators, is a former makeup artist among other professions, and sculpts and does life casts for fun. He sculpted the zombie image of Stanley the Chicken. In fact, it’s called… Zombie Stanley! If you’re wondering how it was made like I was, Tedeschi was found in his corner of the bunker and asked. He says that: “It was sculpted by hand with stone clay, I used clay tools to do any detail work, then painted with water-based paints and finally, it was fired in a kiln! He is the Zombie Stanley!” Tedeschi went on to to say: “I used to go to all the make-up trade shows in LA and got to meet some cool professionals. I even modeled for the make-up artist that ran the dept. for Buffy the Vampire Slayer teevee show. He gave me a vampire forehead and when I wore it outside, no one seemed to notice. That’s LA for you.”

Needless to say, when he mentioned Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I swooned. Best teevee show ever.

The sculpted head is pretty amazing, and the details and coloring are nicely done! I did not ask what the inspiration was for the Zombie Stanley sculpture. I figure that I’d leave that to the Frustrators themselves to explain one day, but there is a slight resemblance to a certain bass player…

Griller EP Special Vinyl Cover with Zombie Stanley

4. Which two Frustrators members played with Green Day on an episode of Mad TV?

Terry Linehan Performs with Green Day on Mad TV

The two Frustrators members who played with Green Day on MAD TV were Mike Dirnt and Terry Linehan. Jason White was on tour with the Influents during this performance and Terry stepped in for him. Linehan is part-owner of a bar located in Providence, RI called the Scurvy Dog. Arrgh! Pirates! Go in and have a drink if you’re ever in the nabe! Terry is also in a band called Hope Anchor. They recently were featured on a compilation album of cover songs called, Failed Tribute Bands and have a pretty awesome version of “Stand By Me” included [Direct LINK to song track here]. I was listening to this compilation celebrating the 100th release of the independent record company, 75orLess, and there are some gems on it! The download is free, so check out Hope Anchor as well as the other local bands that appear on the free download.

5. The animated cartoon character in the tease leak to the song, “Prettiest Girl” has a name. What is it?

Joy McQueefy

Joy McQueefy, Punk Princess! Find her on Facebook, where she occasionally gives out punk beauty wisdom such as:

Joy’s Punk Princess Beauty Secret #2 — Discounted white-label Japanese cosmetic contact lenses that say they’ll make your eyes look bigger and show up at your house in a crushed box wrapped in newspaper are TOTALLY WORTH THE PINKEYE LADIES!! I looked awesome for a few minutes there, and will do it again just as soon as my stupid antibiotics run their course.

6. What year did their first live performance take place?

They partied like it was…. 1999!

7. Did the Frustrators play their first ever live gig at 924 Gilman?

The cover of “Bored in the USA,” shows the Frustrators at their first-ever show performance… but it’s not taken at 924 Gilman. The first-ever live performance by the Frustrators took place at an outdoor vintage car event called the Backyard Believers, a week or so before the Gilman show, which took place on August 20, 1999! The answer to this question is found in the link below, though the Backyard Believers part was a bit more difficult to track down on the Internet. The Wayback Machine Archive of the Frustrators old website had to help me with that one.

The Wayback Machine Archive has links to two photos of that first show, but the links are dead. Pictures for this gig’s show might be lost forever in the bunker, back in the days of actual film!

This passage is from an interview that Lis Booth of “PunkGlobe.com” did with JasonC last year:

The big photo on the back of “Bored in the USA” was from that [Gilman] show. I think Gilman was our 2nd show, and maybe the first one where we called ourselves the Frustrators. … I just Googled it, yes indeed it was our 2nd show and the first one where we used the name “The Frustrators.” It was in 1999. At that show we handed out hand-burned copies of our unmastered “Bored in the USA” which had just been mixed. It was our first indoor show so it was nice.

8. What two legendary and well-known venues besides 924 Gilman did the Frustrators play in 2001?

The Fillmore in San Francisco and the Troubabour in Los Angeles. The shows were for an Adeline Records showcase. The Frustrators were on the bill with several Adeline bands, including The Influents: Jason White, Bill and Greg Schneider, and Willie Samuels. An archive of old postings at Greenday.net and a list of past shows at the Influents website helped with this one.

9. From which European country does a rock surf band named “The Frustrators” come from?

If you hear talk of the Frustrators touring around in Europe, make sure it’s the Frustrators from California! There’s a surf rock band from the Czech Republic who share the name, “The Frustrators.” Sadly, it’s unlikely that the first and true Frustrators will ever tour in Europe, so if you find yourself at a Frustrators show in the middle of a landlocked, former Eastern bloc country with awesome beer and limited available surfing, you are probably hearing the surf rock Frustrators of the Czech Republic and not the ironic pop-punk Frustrators of the East Bay. Check out the surf rock Frustrators at their Bandzone.cz site. They aren’t bad!

10. Within the last week, The Frustrators posted Youtube videos on their Facebook page of several young bands covering Frustrators songs. Name one of the bands, the country that they come from, and the song that they covered.

There were four cover songs (two acoustic solos and two band recordings) that were featured on the Frustrators’ Facebook last week. One of the bands were Loudstuff from Italy. The other was The Razorblades from Brazil. Both bands performed “I Slept with Terry.” It’s nice that they support these young bands from around the world. If you have a cover of a Frustrators song, whether solo, acoustic, with a band, in your pajamas, whatever, send it to them at their Facebook page.

Loudstuff – Italy – I Slept with Terry [Starts about 5:30] – 2009

The Razorblades – Brazil – I Slept with Terry – 2009

11. What is the name of the upcoming album by Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits that Jason Chandler designed the album cover for?

Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits will release their upcoming recording Meal Deal with the Devil! later this year. The cover features Chandler’s characters, “The Flies.” Kinda adorable. From what I understand, there’s a comic or graphic book that goes along with the album. Combined with the storytelling genius of those Ebola dudes, Corbett Redford III and Dan Abbott, and Chandler, it should be pretty awesome. I can’t wait to hear and see what these guys have cooked up for us!

Meal Deal with the Devil will be released in mid-2011 on Silver Sprocket Records and I think that Bobby Joe Ebola is gearing up to tour this summer. Don’t miss these guys if they pass through your town! Keep up to date with news from them at their website. Bobby Joe Ebola is currently working on videos from their album, F, released last year. Photo stills posted on their Facebook page from the video shoots range from mimes in a bar to psycho pig-snout human butcher demons. Hmm! Check out the video to their release from last year, Freaky Baby, from Funny or Die.

12. Name one other band that Mike Dirnt has recorded with that is not Green Day, the Network, the Foxboro Hot Tubs or the Frustrators.

Everyone who entered the contest sent in the name of the same band that Mike Dirnt has recorded with: Screeching Weasel. You can view the DJ Rossstar video below, starting about 2:30, for more bands that Dirnt has recorded with.

I’m not going to try and fool you. I knew nothing about The Frustrators two years ago. Lately, I’ve been on a kick to find out more about their lore, but, I’ve been too lazy to really delve deeply into the disturbing and tragic backstory of the band. OK, it’s not really disturbing or tragic, but it’s fun to say that it is. They actually seem to be a strangely well-adjusted band. Weird.

I’ve spent many seconds over the last couple of years on their Facebook page talking with fan folks, and it’s been a blast chatting. Everyone is funny. Mostly. But while it’s been a lot of fun talking with other fans, there hasn’t been much talk about the band’s past… Probably because it’s locked somewhere deep inside the sordid bunker… but… more than likely it’s because they don’t have a webpage up at the moment and hadn’t put a record out for such a long time that not many were still around who remembered their ancient lore. I hear that in the dark, distant past there was a website, with a message board and all sorts of stuff like that, but at the moment, it’s disappeared down the rabbit hole of the Internet.

Luckily, before the band heads back into the bunker, a website is on its way and there’s a lot of talk lately, as the Frustrators completed their first tour in nine years last month. Everyone is really excited that lead singer/designer Jason Chandler and their friend, Greg Schneider, are editing a DVD of the band that Greg shot during the week-long tour! This is very exciting news! The band has requested that if you have any photos or video footage of the recent shows that you think the band might like to include in the DVD, please email them at frustrators@hotmail.com.

I haven’t heard news of what Art and Terry are up to lately, but Mike seems to be recording these days in Oakland with his other side project band that goes by the name of Green Day (see Billie Joe Armstrong’s @bjaofficial twitter today for news on that).

Did someone say contest?

A few weeks ago I mentioned on my post about the Frustrators show at Gilman and on the @GreenDayMind Twitter that I’d be giving away a copy of the band’s new EP release, Griller. Well, I was supposed to do that last week, and oops, I had a birthday along the way, so I completely forgot… oops again. But now I’m ready to give it out! I have a Frustrators logo bag to give away, too! So, one person will get the CD and the other person will get the bag. Sorry that I don’t have more to give out, but if this works well, I might be tempted to try my hand at contests again in the future. So, be kind and gentle since this is my first time conducting a contest on my own. I apologize in advance for anything that will go awry. I did work as a researcher for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, Regis Philbin edition, way back in the day, but that doesn’t mean that this will run smoothly the first time out!

Prize #1: Stanley... coming soon to your house if you are the first to answer these questions. See you there, baby!

So here are the rules: A) You have one week from today until Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011 at midnight to answer the questions below. B) Please copy and paste the questions below into an email and write your answers to the questions under each individual question. C) I have two items to give away: one Griller CD and one Frustrators felt backpack-type bag. So, two people will win one item each. D) You have to be the first (you get the CD) and second persons (you get the bag) to send in correct answers to all of the questions below. E) Send your answers with the Subject Line “Frustrators Contest #1″ to: GreenDayMind@gmail.com. F) Include your name. G) Include your answers.

Prize #2: Frustrators Felt BackPack Bag

All of the questions below may be found on the Internet in various places. I will mail stuff outside of the Continental United States, but, I won’t like it. But, I will do it. So, have fun, and good luck!

The Frustrators have four songs/EPs/Albums on the Adeline Records label. What are the four Adeline numbers of these recordings?

The band had two potential names before settling on “The Frustrators.” Name one of the potential names.

Name the Frustrator who sculpted the zombie version of Stanley the Chicken which appears on: the cover of the Griller 7″ vinyl, inside the CD fold-out, and on the t-shirt worn by Mike during the tour? (See Mike in the shirt below.)

Which two Frustrators members played with Green Day on an episode of Mad TV?

The animated cartoon character in the tease leak to the song, “Prettiest Girl” has a name. What is it?

Did the Frustrators play their first ever live gig at 924 Gilman?

What year did their first live performance take place?

What two legendary and well-known venues besides 924 Gilman did the Frustrators play in 2001?

From which European country does a rock surf band named “The Frustrators” come from?

Within the last week, The Frustrators posted Youtube videos on their Facebook page of several young bands covering Frustrators songs. Name one of the bands, the country that they come from, and the song that they covered.

What is the name of the upcoming album by Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits that Jason Chandler designed the album cover for?

Name one other band that Mike Dirnt has recorded with that is not Green Day, the Network, the Foxboro Hot Tubs or the Frustrators.

Yesterday, 1/21, the Frustrators™ revealed the title of their new 7″ four-song EP! And not only did they reveal the title, but they revealed the awesome cover art as well! And not only that, but they revealed a completely mind-blowing lineup of fellow East Bay musicians who are hitting the road with them in February!

All of this stuff at once would usually point toward only one conclusion, but don’t worry, it’s probably not another sign of the Apocalypse!

Instead, it’s a nice sign that we’re all a few steps closer to actually hearing the new EP from Mike Dirnt, Jason Chandler, Art Tedeschi and Terry Linehan!! In fact, the EP will be released on CD, FEBRUARY 15th, on vinyl, FEBRUARY 18th, and other digital formats on FEBRUARY 22. WOOT! The vinyl will be released through Dr. Strange Records and the CD and digital formats through Adeline Records.

Griller? WTF?

I have to admit, I was a little stumped when I read about the EP title, unexpectedly announced by the California mini-tour MCs, Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits, early yesterday. I was like, Griller? Eh? That’s the album title? WTF?

The Frustrators™ Facebook page was having yet another crazy conversation, this one about potential titles, and no one was making guesses anywhere close to that (lots of ball jokes, though). Jimmy Zeus gave a cryptic clue: “Well our other two EPs have titles that make fun of overexposed top-40 monuments to over-production…” I had no idea what he was talking about until I remembered that their first and second recordings are named after albums by Bruce Springsteen and U2, namely, Born in the USA and Achtung Baby.

This all happened before I briefly saw the EP cover art later in the day, and couldn’t pay attention to it long enough to catch what was going on with the title. It had been a busy day and then I tried to win lotto tickets to American Idiot at night. I didn’t win the lotto and that’s ok, because it’s so frikking cold outside, I’m just glad I got home before the temperature hit the freezing mark.

When I finally got home and sat on my couch, I saw the awesome cover art that “make[s] fun of overexposed top-40 monuments to over-production…,” this particular top-40 monument being the late, great, and strange… Michael Jackson, or more specifically, his 1982 album, Thriller.

After eight long years of waiting, the Frustrators™ finally bring you brilliant, and dare I say, sexy (ooh, Stanley! your hot!), new cover art by the creators of those classic recordings, ACHTUNG JACKASS and Bored in the U.S.A. (which certainly aren’t monuments to over-production… or any production, actually… I kid, Denny!) Griller:

Maybe it's just a thing about Vegetarianism and not Michael Jackson. But I doubt it.

Yes, it took me a teeny bit of time to realize what I was seeing and then I… cracked up with laughter… and some horror… or maybe I was just feeling a little thrilled!

Now, if the music is as good and irreverent as the artwork, I’d be way happy!

Stanley is one sexy chicken (or is he a cock?) on the album cover! However, I’m not sure if I should eat him or rescue him from the grill. Alas, unlike some members of the Frustrators™, I am not a vegetarian. Sigh.

After the jump, read more about the EP, the record release, and the hot-shit lineup packed with a week’s worth (2/18-2/27) of outstanding shows in Berkeley, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. And… SEE A PREVIEW OF OTHER NEW ARTWORK FROM THE FRUSTRATORS™ LEAD SINGER JASON CHANDLER FOR THE COVER OF BOBBY JOE EBOLA’S EP, MEAL DEAL WITH THE DEVIL COMING SOON!

The world of music is somewhat familiar with Green Day’s “alleged” other bands such as The Network and The Foxboro Hot Tubs and Billie Joe’s side project, Pinhead Gunpowder. While these three bands get a bit more fanfare, Mike Dirnt’s Green Day-side project, The Frustrators, gets a bit less of it. They have been around since 1999, mostly playing in their garages and drinking beer, though they have played live a few times over the past ten years. I can’t say that I had heard of them prior to my crazy 21st Century Breakdown plunge starting last year, but my life has been much funnier and happier since I got their two CDs this past December when Adeline Records had a stupid awesome sale on stupid awesome merchandise and music.

The band’s self-deprecating lyrics, mixed with a pounding bass and drum section, and blazing lead guitar, makes for some intense and hilarious songs. Chandler’s rye sense of humor, whether singing about getting lost in the Texas desert (“West of Texas”), pirates (“Pirate Song”), tossing midgets (“The Great Australian Midget Toss”), Terry’s lovelife (“I Slept with Terry”), or forlornly singing about a girl who walked away… whether real or imaginary (“Then She Walked Away”)… is a treat and always manages to make me laugh and want to dance. It’s very manly music, too. I am not quite sure how to define “manly” in regards to it, but don’t a lot of manly men long to sing songs of pirates?

Jimmy Zeus, the cigar chomping, monkey manager of the Frustrators, recently posted the mysterious image above on the Frustrators Facebook page. The photo, along with some mysterious and frustrating statements from Zeus (and Chandler, who shows up on Facebook here and there) may be of the band possibly recording tracks during a bit of downtime from Green Day’s ongoing tour. Yawzah!

I hunted Chandler down from within his Zombie-protected bunker to ask what was up, and though he’s tight-lipped about stuff regarding the future of the Frustrators …no doubt because his zombies have eaten his lips away… he managed to three-finger type the following response:

Basically, we’d all love to do another record. We’ve all got some ideas. And actually by crazy strokes of luck we’ve been able to hang out recently. But writing and recording is a long process and can be tricky once you consider all the little difficulties with people’s schedules and my own deep personality problems… So who knows?–Jason Chandler, from somewhere deep underground (aka Facebook)

So there you have it! Something is up with The Frustrators, though how, when, where, and what are yet to be determined. Why is a bit more simpler… because we need more Frustrators in our lives!

The Frustrators Live – “Best Friend’s Girlfriend” -

I swear there is a lead singer there somewhere in the dark…

“West of Texas” - Bored in the USA – The Frustrators – My favorite Frustrators song